Yuanjiang 沅江市

Setting and landscape

Most of the land is plain built up by river silt and by reclamation from the lake, crossed by channels and dotted with lakes; in the city centre two rivers loop around the town and seven lakes sit within it. Northeast of the city rise the ochre-red Chishan (赤山) hills, described in a passage the city quotes as the right wing of Dongting, running for tens of li. The city is known as a home of reeds.

History

Chinese Wikipedia dates primitive villages around Luhu (漉湖) to more than 5,000 years ago. A county was first set up here under the Liang of the Southern Dynasties as Yaoshan (药山); it took the name Yuanjiang under the Sui and became a city in 1988. The city government lists Palaeolithic sites among its relics and links the area with the poet Qu Yuan (屈原).

What to see

The "eight ancient views of Chishan" recorded in the county gazetteer name spots across the hills. They include Lishan (蠡山), where legend says the Yue minister Fan Li (范蠡) retired; Guangong Shazui (关公沙嘴), a ridge where Guan Yu (关羽) is said to have stationed troops; a crescent-shaped bay called Mingyue Chengwan (明月澄湾); and the Jiuxi Dragon Pool (九溪龙潭), where nine streams gather below the Changpo slope.

Food and local products

Rice has been grown here for 5,300 years, according to the city government, and Yuanjiang rice is a national geographical-indication product. Local lake foods include whitebait from Xiaohezui (小河咀), softshell turtle from Huangmaozhou (黄茅洲) and crabs from Tianxin Lake (天心湖), and the city names whitebait in milky broth (奶汤银鱼) and steamed softshell turtle among the classic dishes of the Dongting Lake school of Hunan cooking. The lake islands give the four wild vegetables of Dongting: reed shoots, Artemisia, wild celery and liaomi (蓼米). Yuanjiang reed shoots (沅江芦笋) gained a national geographical indication in 2016 and are cooked with fish or pickled, while Artemisia goes into small cakes (藜蒿粑粑). The city is also known for citrus from Xinwan (新湾) and pomelos from Nanzui (南嘴).

Highlights

• Chishan eight ancient views 赤山古八景: Eight named spots in the Chishan hills recorded in the Jiaqing-era Yuanjiang county gazetteer.
• Yuanjiang reed shoots 沅江芦笋: Wild lake-island vegetable with a national geographical indication since 2016.
• Whitebait in milky broth 奶汤银鱼: Whitebait dish named by the city among the classics of the Dongting Lake school of Hunan cooking.
• Yuanjiang rice 沅江大米: National geographical-indication rice from a place where rice has been grown for 5,300 years.